On the prosodic marking of contrast in Romance sentence topic: Evidence from Neapolitan Italian

Lisa Brunetti, Mariapaola D'Imperio, Francesco Cangemi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper we present data in Neapolitan Italian that show a clear phonological difference in intonation between a clitic left dislocated object topic in an exhaustive answer and in a partial answer. In the latter, the topic expression is set aside in its own prosodic phrase, made of a rising accent (H*) followed by a !H- boundary tone. An exhaustive answer does not show such phrasing pattern. The finding of a 'partial' tune in Romance provides a solution to the pragmatic problem of defining sentence topic by supporting a bi-dimensional model of Information Structure.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication5th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2010
PublisherInternational Speech Communications Association
ISBN (Electronic)9780000000002
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes
Event5th International Conference on Speech Prosody: Every Language, Every Style, SP 2010 - Chicago, United States
Duration: May 10 2010May 14 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of the International Conference on Speech Prosody
ISSN (Print)2333-2042

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on Speech Prosody: Every Language, Every Style, SP 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityChicago
Period5/10/105/14/10

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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